http://mmajunkie.comClaude Patrick is a guy who keeps things on an even keel when it comes to fighting. He’ll tell you he doesn’t like to call guys out, talk trash, or generally do anything that reflects poorly on him or the sport.

He’ll tell you all this even if his opponent is not playing by the same rules, which, he said was the case in his fight this past Saturday against Daniel Roberts.

But after defeating Roberts (12-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) by unanimous decision at UFC 129, Patrick (14-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) admitted to MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio) that he was biting his tongue in the buildup to the fight.

The sweetest thing about the Facebook-streamed bout, he said, was not necessarily the experience of fighting on the biggest MMA show in North American history (though that was pretty cool, too). It was shutting his opponent’s mouth.

“He talked trash, and he got served up,” Patrick said.

Normally, the Toronto native gets off his computer in the weeks prior to a fight, probably to avoid just such an occurrence. He also doesn’t want to cloud his mind with any sort of hype or expectation about what he’s going to face. That helps him narrow out anything that distracts from his focus.

But when his training partners told him about videos with Roberts clearly on the verbal offensive, he couldn’t help but get angry.

“This guy’s on YouTube making videos and trash-talking, and I’m like, ‘Really?’ I couldn’t believe it,” he said.

He continued to train, though, perhaps with a little more fire than usual. But the chatter around him didn’t stop, and he eventually lost his patience.

“Everybody was talking about what crew he’s with, the Diaz brothers and this and that, and I’m like, ‘Dude, nobody’s going to go into the octagon with you. It’s just me and you,'” Patrick said. “From the time I saw the guy, I was like, ‘That’s it.'”

Then Roberts mean-mugged him at weigh-ins, and it was on.

So when he heard people talking about Roberts’ skill in grappling, Patrick decided to go challenge “Ninja” at his strongest point just to prove he was the better man.

Luckily, he quickly discovered that he had the advantage on the mat.

“In my eyes, the fight was done when I mounted him,” Patrick said. “He’s a jiu-jitsu guy, and the inside thing is when you mount a guy, you’ve got better game than him on the mat. And it wasn’t a freak accident that I mounted him.”

In fact, Patrick said he was shocked over how easy it was to take his opponent’s best weapon away.

“I felt I broke him once I touched him,” he said. “This guy doesn’t have any hips for me. He’s not a great grappler … compared to so many other guys that I’ve been training with. Unbelievable. And he’s talking that kind of trash? Absurd.

“Once we locked up, I was like, ‘This is going to be some fun.'”

As you can tell, Patrick is still fired up about the occasion. When told that Roberts might not have been 100 percent going into the fight, he doesn’t want to hear it.

“I couldn’t care less,” Patrick said. “GSP could have slipped something in his drink. The ghost of Elvis Presley came back, talked to him, kept him up nights singing songs. I’m not concerned with that.

“I’m not 100 percent, either. A whole bunch of stuff happened, but you don’t hear me crying about it.”

It’s time now for Patrick to move on to other challenges. He ultimately got the last word by beating Roberts. He won’t call out his next opponent. He won’t change, say, to make himself more marketable.

Unless Roberts wants another go.

“I’ll just do what comes up,” Patrick said. “There’s nobody in particular I want to fight. Unless Daniel Roberts wants to give me a rematch. I’d always be open to that.”

For complete coverage of UFC 129, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of MMAjunkie.com.